Conventionally, there have been developed technologies for mounting, on a pneumatic tire, an electronic device (hereinafter, referred to as a pneumatic-tire-use electronic-device) such as: a sensor, which measures an internal pressure or an internal temperature of the pneumatic tire, and which transmits a result of the measurement to a vehicle via radio communications; or an IC chip which stores, for example, information management by a manufacturer of the pneumatic tire (for example, Published Japanese Translation of a PCT application No. 2002-502765 (pp. 11-13 and FIG. 1 to 3).
In a case where an electronic device is mounted on an inner side of a pneumatic tire, it is imperative that the electronic device be securely fixed to the pneumatic tire in order to prevent the electronic device from being displaced from a position for the mounting by centrifugal force or vibration generated in association with rotations of the pneumatic tire.
That is, if the electronic device deviates from the mounting position, normal measurement or the like utilizing the electronic device becomes impossible, and not only that, the deviated electronic device is likely to damage an inner liner, and thereby becomes a cause of puncture of the tire.
For example, according to the above described Published Japanese Translation of a PCT Application No. 2002-502765, a projection having a zigzag surface shape is provided on an inner surface of the pneumatic tire. Additionally, the electronic device can be fixed because a locking hole, with which the projection is locked by being inserted therein, is provided on an electronic-device housing apparatus when houses the electronte device.
Incidentally, it can be considered that the pneumatic-tire-use electronic-device as described above is mounted, for so-called aftermarket use, on a pneumatic tire according to need after the pneumatic tire is manufactured.
However, there have been the following problems in the above described technology for mounting a pneumatic-tire-use electronic-device. That is, since the projection is provided on the inner surface of the pneumatic tire, the projection can be broken due to contact on such occasions as when the pneumatic tire is mounted onto a wheel in a case where the pneumatic-tire-use electronic-device (the electronic-device housing apparatus) is mounted on the projection.
Additionally, there has been a problem in the pneumatic tire provided with the projection, that the projection is easy to break due to stress concentrates on an attached portion of the projection to the pneumatic tire. Furthermore, in a case where a fixing portion, such as the projection, for fixing the pneumatic-tire-use electronic-device is additionally stuck on an inner surface of the pneumatic tire after manufacture of the pneumatic tire, there has been another problem that, since strength of the fixing portion cannot be sufficiently secured, the fixing portion tends to come unstuck.
In response, the present invention was made in consideration of the above described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a pneumatic-tire-use electronic-device fixing system, a pneumatic tire and an electronic-device housing apparatus, which are capable of securely fixing a pneumatic-tire-use electronic device, and which are also capable of suppressing breakage of a fixing portion for fixing the pneumatic-tire-use electronic device.